'No complaints' - Declan Rice makes Leeds United admission in declaring West Ham thinking

Relegation-threatened Leeds are approaching Sunday’s 1.30pm kick-off still sat in the Premier League’s drop zone but with their survival destiny back in their own hands after Everton’s 1-1 draw at Wolves on Saturday afternoon.

West Ham, meanwhile, are now mathematically safe from the drop and have a Europa Conference League final to look forward to having completed a successful navigation past semi-final opponents AZ Alkmaar with victory in the Netherlands on Thursday night.

The Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina on Wednesday, June 7 will arrive exactly ten months after West Ham’s first game of the Premier League season at home to Manchester City but Rice says there are “no complaints” about the busy schedule.

Writing in the Last Word for whufc.com, Rice says his team are now aiming to end their league campaign on a high but ultimately admits that the Europa Conference League final is now the one that matters most.

Rice wrote: "When we step out to face Fiorentina in the UEFA Europa Conference League final in Prague on Wednesday 7 June, it will be 304 days since we hosted Manchester City in our first Premier League match – that’s exactly ten months!

“But I’m certainly not complaining because we are in a European final and I could not be happier and prouder. But the job is not done. Now, we want to go there and win the trophy.

“As captain, I try to lead the lads, but it’s not just me, I just wear the armband and I’ve got 22 players, staff and people who allow us to go and do what we’ve done. To wear the armband for this club, I know how big it is, I really know how big it is.

“I’m hoping to finish the season on a high now. We’ve obviously got two Premier League games left but ultimately the big one is the seventh of June and we’ll give it absolutely everything.

“You can say the pressure has lifted because we’ve created history, regardless. To get to a final for the first time in 47 years, every one of us will be remembered in West Ham’s fans’ hearts and our history.”